1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a trim panel assembly having integrated energy management characteristics and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Background Art
Vehicle trim panels such as interior door panels, instrument panels, knee bolsters, among others, typically comprise a rigid retainer or substrate panel and a thin elastic plastic skin covering the panel. The trim panel may include energy management structure. An example of one such structure is a rib or plurality of ribs on the interior of the panel that is designed to crumple upon impact of the trim panel.
One current technique for providing the desired ribs is to secure separate, preformed, ribs to a preformed substrate. This requires additional parts (the ribs) and additional complexity to the manufacturing process.
Another technique is to mold ribs onto the back: surface of the substrate during the substrate molding step. In this case, the substrate and rib are made of the same rigid material. The rigidity of the rib tends to lessens the energy management function of the rib. Furthermore, these ribs, because of their ability to cause depressions on the A-surface of the trim panel, must have a width less than 80% of the average thickness of the panel. While the width of these ribs must be closely controlled for aesthetics, the length of the ribs may be relatively much longer to allow the necessary energy management characteristics to be achieved.
However, due to the inherent limited space availability in a vehicle interior, there is always a desire to minimize space usage within a vehicle interior. Furthermore, there is always an incentive to reduce cost of the vehicle parts and manufacturing complexities.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a trim panel having energy management characteristics that can provide an improvement over the at least one aspect of the prior art.